


in real life

by jodem



Category: Homestuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-21
Updated: 2012-12-21
Packaged: 2017-11-21 23:09:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/603100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jodem/pseuds/jodem
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It makes you happy knowing that three people love you just for existing. You may live in different time zones, but it doesn’t feel like that when you’re actually talking to them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	in real life

**Author's Note:**

> This was kind of a vent-y piece I wrote. Not much, but I guess it's probably really relevant to a lot of people in the Homestuck fandom.

Your name is John Egbert, and you don’t know how to make friends in real life.

Meeting your best friends online is probably one of the best experiences you’ve had in your entire thirteen years of life. You got to know them _before_ you knew what they looked like—before you had a chance to judge them based on the way they dressed or styled their hair or way they smelled. They aren’t involved in your real life, so it’s easy to let them know about the things that are happening to you without a second thought.

It makes you happy knowing that three people love you just for existing. You may live in different time zones, but it doesn’t feel like that when you’re actually talking to them. Goofing off. Watching movies by downloading them and counting down so you all press ‘play’ at the same time.

There are some things you hate about them, though.

Like how you can _always_ tell when they’re upset, even though they think they’re good at hiding it. And how being hundreds of miles away from them means there’s no way for you to give them that hug they might need.

Or how sometimes they’ll disappear for a few days and you’ll start panicking; what if something happened to them and you’ll never know? What if they just decided to leave and never come back? And then they do come back with a reason for their disappearance, but you’re still kind of mad at them because you were so worried.

But mostly it’s just how they’re so _far away_.

You can watch movies. You can Skype. You can even call each other, sometimes.

But you can’t go to the movie theater with them and whisper snarky comments about the film to each other. You can’t go skating or to a dance or to a concert with them. You can’t give them those hugs that they need _right now_. You can’t laugh with them at something stupid you see out in public. You can’t go out to eat with them. You can’t buy a large pizza and pig out until you feel like puking.

You _can’t_.

There are always the plans for the four of you to find a giant house and live together, even though all of you know that isn’t a likely possibility. There are the many times you want to visit each other but something—school, parents, bros, transportation—gets in the way. There’s also that worry that they won’t like you in real life, if you ever _do_ meet. There are those people that rant and rave about how your friends aren’t _real_ and you don’t _know them_.

And really, the only thing you can do is plaster on a smile and not think about the bad parts.


End file.
